


Duck Hunting

by coolbyrne



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26147734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbyrne/pseuds/coolbyrne
Summary: Life gets in the way of a birthday tradition for Ellie, but Gibbs finds a way to make it work. Slibbs, Ellick-ish.
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 21
Kudos: 103





	Duck Hunting

**Author's Note:**

> My wife's been playing all these retro games and we tried to figure out how to incorporate that into an NCIS fic. Here it is. Lol! For the record, you can't actually play Duck Hunt on the new TVs because the signal from the gun to the screen is calibrated to tube TVs, not flat screens. There was a Kickstarter 2 years ago to fund a mod for the game to play on your flat screen, but it fell woefully shy of its goal. So let's just pretend Tim did his computer wizardry and made it work. In my re-read, I noticed I didn't get a chance to fit in the idea that the second controller actually controls the duck! But just so you know, the second controller CAN control the duck. And no, you can't shoot the dog. Only in the arcade version.

He read the e-mail twice and didn't understand it any better the second time than he did the first time. His brows came together and without looking up, he called out, "McGee."

"Yeah, Boss?" Without needing an invitation, Tim stood up from his desk and walked over to Gibbs.

"Read this. Don't try to explain it to me. Just figure out how to make it work."

McGee bent slightly behind Gibbs' chair, eyes scanning the monitor. His smile got wider the farther down the message he got. "This is totally doable."

He knew if anyone was going to figure out the computer speak, it'd be Tim. Relieved, he asked, "Whatever you need to do to make it happen, do it. If you need my house, it's open."

Tim beamed. "Oh, Boss, I can do better than that. So much better than that."

…..

The door was open, as it always was, and he liked it that way not just because it was so in line with his own thinking, but because it often gave him a chance to look at her privately and unobstructed. She sat at her desk, attention laser-focused on a file that lay open, her pen tapping on the paper, her heels strewn beside her chair. She looked professional but so casual that he half-expected to see her tongue stick out in concentration.

When it did, he laughed. 

Her head jerked up and her hand went over her heart. "One day, Gibbs, one day. How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see-" He stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth.

Her eyes narrowed. "You saw nothing, Gunny."

"No, Ma'am."

Her movement from the desk to the couch was her way of inviting him in for a longer stay that he was happy to accept. He lowered his frame into the chair and watched her sit cross-legged on the couch and reach for a candy out of the new bowl on the table between them.

"The blues are caramels, the oranges are creams and the reds are nuts," she said, untwisting the cellophane. 

His hand hovered over the bowl before asking, "This a test?"

Her mouth dropped in feigned shock. "No!" 

"Uh-huh." He pulled the ends of a blue candy until it unravelled open. Popping it into his mouth, he said, "I need a favour."

"Anything."

The immediacy and sincerity in which she replied warmed him in a way he held in his lungs. Grinning, he chewed the caramel and said, "Put the shovel away, Sloane. Don't need to hide a body."

She tossed the balled up wrapper across the distance. "Whatever. So what do you need?"

"These are good," he commented, pointing to his cheek. "Need you to take Ellie out for lunch tomorrow."

"Oh," she said, adopting a disappointing tone. "Mine sounded so much more exciting." He returned the volley with his own wrapper and she laughed. "I can do that," she said. "I was going to anyway, since it's her birthday." The word made her whisper, "Ahhh." She took another candy, lobbed it to him and asked, "What are you up to?"

"Why do you automatically assume I'm up to somethin'?" Her raised eyebrow and smirk had him answering the question before she had a chance to throw out a retort. "One of her brothers asked me to do a favour."

"Favours all around."

He tilted his head back and forth in quiet agreement. "First year she's not goin' to Oklahoma; he wants to make sure she gets somethin' that reminds her of home."

"God, you're adorable sometimes."

He tried to scowl but the sweetness in her smile softened his edges. "I'll make it up to you."

Her eyebrow arched high and her voice went low. "Oh?"

He held the moment as long as he could, revelled in the easy tension. Even with the question full of play, her eyes went bedroom serious. He caught himself licking his bottom lip and she winked.

"I'll take ya to lunch," he managed to get out 

He wasn't the only one who could play the tension game, and she made sure he saw her eyes go to his mouth then back to his eyes before sighing. "Your answers today have disappointed me, Cowboy."

"It's Lucatelli's."

"That's better."

"Dinner?"

Rather than verbalize the pleasure that was all over her face at his edit, she asked, "How long do you need me to keep her away from the building?"

…..

"I'm sorry you couldn't go home for your birthday, Ellie," Jack sympathized across the restaurant table. 

Bishop picked at a fry. "It's okay. I mean, it's not okay- it's been tradition ever since I can remember- but, you know, we're all adults now and we've got our own lives. It was easier when we all lived at home or at least in the state." 

She smiled despite her disappointment. Every year, she'd get together with her brothers for a birthday celebration that involved three things: her mother's chocolate cake with white icing, unlimited Dr. Pepper, and some heated video game competition. But she suspected things were going to change last year when one of her brothers couldn't make it. This year, two brothers were out of state, cutting down the tradition by half. She knew it couldn't last forever, but it didn't make her feel any better. Still, her friends were supportive, and she appreciated the effort.

"Nick's going to take me to see 'The Journal'," she said with a genuine smile.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "The chick flick?" When Bishop nodded, she hummed her approval. "He's a good one."

"Yes he is," Ellie agreed.

The waiter approached and asked if they were interested in dessert. 

"Hell yeah, we're interested in dessert!" Jack assured him.

It wasn't her mother's chocolate cake with white icing, but it was pretty darn good.

…..

The knock was firm and instant and Barbara Bishop wiped her hands on a kitchen towel before answering it. Swinging the door open, she took in the young Hispanic man with the dark hair and even darker glasses. 

"You must be Agent Torres."

His white teeth flashed. "And you must be Mrs. Bishop." He stopped at his own words. "Sounds weird, because I call your daughter 'Bishop'."

"Come on in." She welcomed him in and started for the kitchen.

"I'm sorry I can't stay long," he replied, though he took the time to look around. "Helicopter's waiting."

Barbara shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe he did it. I mean, there must have been a part of me that thought he would, because here it is." She gestured to the cake. "But I guess I didn't believe it entirely."

"It's Gibbs, ma'am. I've learned to believe everything."

She grinned at the assessment. "That's good advice. And please, call me 'Barbara'. Eleanor's told me so much about you."

A small blush went across his cheeks. "And I hope you'll call me 'Nick'." He marveled at the 3 layer cake. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

She shook her head. "No, this is something she should have with her friends. You're her family, too. She needs new traditions."

He understood. "I promise to take very good care of this," he said as he put the lid over the cake.

"I know you will." They walked together to the door, and before he said his goodbyes, she asked, "Can you give this to her for me?" before pressing her lips to his cheek. 

He blushed again but nodded. "Absolutely."

…..

"Bishop, you're with me. MTAC." 

She scrambled to her feet before the order was completely barked out. The office had been quiet after lunch, with Torres and McGee chasing down a suspect, and she was glad to have something to do besides wallow in her own self-pity. Everyone had given her birthday greetings that morning and had treated her with coffee, cards and flowers. Gibbs had surreptitiously left a cupcake on her desk and went to his like nothing had happened. But now, with half the day gone and seemingly nothing to do, her mind was drifting home. 

His long strides sped up her own, and she half-jogged up the stairs to MTAC. The big door hissed open after scanning Gibbs' eye and she would realize later how much of a set up it was when he stepped aside and let her go in first.

"SURPRISE!!" 

A chorus greeted her and she jumped back, bumping into Gibbs' big frame. He touched her arm to catch her and to offer quiet support. She immediately looked over her shoulder and tried to narrow her eyes in accusation, but his smirk made it nearly impossible to be mad.

"Happy birthday, Eleanor," he whispered.

"Oh God, don't call me that." She wrinkled her nose but smiled. Turning to the group at the bottom of the stairs, she just shook her head as she made her way down the ramp. "I can't believe you guys," she said, hugging her friends. She stopped at Leon, unsure of the protocol, but he opened his arms and embraced her. 

"Happy birthday, Special Agent Bishop."

She looked around at the balloons and the banner and the table groaning under the weight of the many bottles of Dr. Pepper. There was something under a cover that caught her eye, but before she asked, she thanked the Director. "I'm guessing I have you to thank for this. I mean, letting it happen."

He shook his head. "All I gave the okay for was the room. Everything else is, well, everyone else." Looking at Gibbs, he said, "You know the window you have here: one hour." He clasped Gibbs' shoulder on his way to the door. "Enjoy yourself, everyone."

Bishop glanced around as Leon's words came back to her. "Why do we only have an hour?"

"Because," Tim explained, "it was the only time we could squeeze in between actual Navy business." He looked over at Jill who typed in a few commands and suddenly, 4 images appeared on the big screen. 

She covered her mouth. "Oh my God." 

"Hey, girl!"

"Ellie Raye!"

"Twerp!"

Jack came to stand beside her, and Bishop answered her unspoken question. "My brothers, John, George and Robert," she said, going in order. "Mom! Turn your microphone on!" 

She gestured to her ear then her mouth as all 3 men tried to get their mother's attention. The older woman frowned, struggling to understand, until she hit a key that caught her in mid-sentence.

"-how these things are supposed to work!"

"We hear you now, Mom."

The matriarch smiled at her daughter's voice. "Eleanor. Happy birthday, sweetheart."

She reached up to wipe an unexpected tear, and Jack squeezed her shoulder in a half-hug. 

"I can't believe it," Bishop admitted. She spun around to Gibbs who had stayed in the background. "You did this."

"Me? Yeah, Bishop, I did the clickety-clack on the computer and made all this happen."

His self-deprecating humour did nothing to deflect her suspicion. "You got Tim to do it." His name made her realize her first family didn't really know her second family beyond Gibbs, so she quickly made the introductions. 

"We've met," her mother said when she introduced Nick.

Bishop side-eyed Torres. "What do you mean, 'we've met'?"

Nick walked over to the covered mystery and pulled it back to reveal the cake. "Oh, and I'm supposed to give you this." He stepped to her side and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. "From your mother."

"You… picked up a cake from Oklahoma." She was nearly speechless. "I don't… Wow."

"I'm going to let you kids do what you do," her mother said, wiping away her own tear. "But I just wanted you to know I miss you and I love you and I'll see you at Christmas."

"I love you, too, Mom."

When her square went dark and the connection was gone, her youngest brother said, "Okay, now that Mom's gone, let the trash talking begin!"

Bishop's brows met in the middle. "What?"

Tim gave Jill the signal and she transferred the images of her brothers to the smaller screen and brought something entirely different on the big one. An image she was more than familiar with came up.

"Duck Hunt?! You made Duck Hunt happen??" She threw her arms around Gibbs, then Tim. 

"We've played it every year since she was 5," George explained. "Every other girl was into Mario. Not our Ellie. She wanted to shoot things."

"Never could beat us, though," John piped up. "'Cept when she got Dad to play for her."

"Shut up. You guys are waaay older than me."

"Oh, it's on!" George lifted his toy gun and waved it in the camera. "I'm gonna destroy you, Twerp!"

Torres whispered out of the corner of his mouth to McGee, "Damn, I thought I was competitive."

Bishop crossed her arms and rolled back on her heels. "I invoke the Birthday Bonus."

"What??" Robert exclaimed. "You haven't used that out in 20 years."

Jack looked at Bishop. "What's the 'Birthday Bonus'?"

George answered before Ellie could. "Because she was the youngest, we let her have an out clause where she could ask anyone else to play for her. It was the only way she could beat us."

"I could've beaten you whenever I wanted," she said. "I just didn't want to embarrass you." This brought a round of whooping from her brothers that she shrugged away.

"Okay," Robert said, "you can invoke the bonus. But you have to call it what it is."

Bishop looked around and even in the dark, a flush could be seen beginning to stain her cheeks. "Really?"

Her brothers took no mercy. "Let's hear it," John said.

"Fine." She sighed, inhaled deeply, then quickly blurted out, "Super-duper Jelly Ellie Birthday Princess Bonus."

Gibbs blinked. Jack and Tim stifled a laugh. Even Jill at the console bit her inner lip.

Torres shook his head as if waking from a dream. "Pardon?"

He got a punch in the shoulder for his question. "Whatever!" Bishop retorted. 

John burst out laughing. "I gotta give it ya," he grinned. "You remembered it. So without Dad around, who ya got to step in?"

Tim handed her the game gun which she promptly, and sheepishly, handed to Gibbs.

"Somebody better give him some glasses," Robert teased.

"He's just trash talking you," Bishop told him.

"Uh-huh." He looked down into hopeful eyes and knew he couldn't say no. "What do I do?"

Beaming, she turned him to the screen and said, "When the game starts, you have 3 shots to shoot 2 ducks."

"That's it?"

She nodded, pleased as punch. "That's it."

"If you could put the dog out of my misery, that'd be great, too," Jack said. 

The fact she knew the game got George's attention. With his smoothest accent, he asked, "Ma'am, how'd y'all like to take a chance on an Oklahoma cowboy?"

"I'd say you're taking a chance with a Pennsylvania sniper in the room," Torres warned.

Realization spread across his face, even over the internet connection. "Ah, I getcha."

Robert having none of it. "Sniper, huh? Let's see whatcha got, Army."

Jack pressed her lips together as her attention swung over to Gibbs who stood all steely eyed and granite jaw. "It's just trash talk, _Cowboy_ ," she whispered, her voice lowering in the last word, letting him know it was for him alone.

His eyes softened though he feigned irritation. "Start the thing."

…..

"Totally not fair!"

"How's he doing that?"

"C'mon, man, give us a break."

Bishop's smug grin and saucy sway was his reward, even if cleaning the clocks of her three brothers had its own satisfaction. It got to the point where they begged Jack to intervene, and she did the best she could, tugging at his arm, trying to cover his eyes. But through his laughter, he continued to hit the targets, even as they got faster and more erratic as the rounds went on. It was when she went up on tip toes and planted a kiss on his cheek, not unlike the one he gave her on Valentine's Day, that his attention was finally diverted. Missing all 3 shots, he finally saw what they meant about the dog when the cartoon animal laughed and kicked his misses. He clicked the trigger at the screen twice, despite knowing he was out of bullets.

"You can only shoot the dog in the arcade version anyway, Boss."

He handed Tim the controller. "Huh."

"As fun as this is," Jill said from her chair, plate and fork in hand, "and as incredible as this cake is, I'm afraid you've only got 10 more minutes."

There were some disappointed groans, but John lightened the mood by saying, "Like getting our asses kicked wasn't a big enough cue to leave."

Bishop smiled through her sadness. "I don't even know what to say. This was so great you guys." She said it to her brothers on the screen and her family in the room.

"We know it's not the same, El," Robert said, "but I'm glad we did it. We'll be fixin' to see you at Christmas, right?"

"Definitely."

"Good," he replied. "Make sure you bring Agent Torres." He winked at the blush he knew was about to appear.

"Make sure you bring Agent Sloane, too," George piped up slyly, and at the figurative step back everyone took, he said, "What? He can't hit me from here!" He allowed a slight pause before asking, "Can he? I gotta go! Happy birthday, Bug."

The screens turned off one by one as each brother said their goodbyes, leaving Bishop to wipe her eyes. Jack was the first to put an arm around her, bringing her into a full hug. 

"Happy birthday, Ellie."

Tim was next, throwing his big brother arms around them both. "Happy birthday, Bishop."

"Oh, I gotta get me some of that!" Torres declared, trying to squeeze three people in his arms.

Gibbs watched from the sidelines, his thoughts filled with family. After everything life had thrown him, to have everything he needed in one room seemed so simple. The group disentangled themselves and he said, "Take the cake and Dr. Pepper and the rest of the day off." He lifted his chin to McGee and Torres. "You, too."

"What about the case?" Bishop asked.

Torres waved a hand. "Pfft. We took care of that when you were on lunch with Jack."

She turned to Sloane. "You were in on this the whole time!"

"I only knew what I needed to know," Jack said, lifting her hand. "I only did what Gibbs asked me to do."

Bishop turned to Gibbs, her eyes soft, her smile almost shy, like she couldn't decide how much emotion she'd ask him to share in public. He didn't bother making her choose.

"C'mere, Kid."

She wrapped her arms so tightly around his waist that he had a hard time breathing, but he didn't care. Her frame was so tiny that he could wrap his arms around her enough to touch his own shoulders, and he held her close, pressing his lips to the top of her head. 

"Happy birthday. Jelly Ellie."

She pulled back and playfully punched him in the arm. "You guys," she said to them all. "I love you guys so much."

"Yeah, we know," Torres said, though he punctuated his confidence with a wink. "Come on, I'll help you carry this stuff to your car. Then we got a chick flick I've been _dying_ to see." 

"Go," Gibbs said, "we'll clean this up."

"And by 'we', he means me and him," Jack said to Tim, tilting her head towards the door.

"You sure, Boss?" he asked Gibbs.

"I wouldn't say 'no' to her if I were you, McGee."

He grinned. "I hear you." To his surprise, Gibbs clasped him in a hug.

"Thanks for everythin', Tim."

He returned the hug with equal meaning. "Any time. For anything at all." Collecting his composure, he coughed and said to Nick and Ellie, "You're going to need more than an extra set of hands to move all this. I didn't even know we could buy Dr. Pepper in D.C."

The door closed behind the trio and the room hushed quiet once more. Jill returned to her actual work and both Gibbs and Jack made short work of the clean-up. Once their task was completed, Jack stood back to rate their work, and finding it acceptable, wiped her hands together in satisfaction.

"Too late for lunch, too early for dinner," she said as they both made their way to the door. Snapping her fingers, she said, "I've got a Playstation in my office if you want to give a modern game a go." 

He grinned, knowing he'd do just about anything with her. "Are the guns better?"

Glancing down at his right hand, she reached for it and examined his finger. "Got trigger finger, huh?" Bravely, she brought it to her lips. "All better?" His mouth went dry and she used the quiet space to say, "What you did today- she'll never forget it. It was really sweet." Though words weren't coming out of his mouth, his arched eyebrow said everything, but she was having none of it. Lifting her heels, she went to press another kiss on his cheek, but it ended up brushing the corner of his mouth.

"Gettin' closer, Sloane."

Her mouth dropped open at his cockiness. "Well I'm not the sniper in the family, am-"

His lips hit their target, straight and true, and his reward was the soft moan under his tongue. Mindful of the potential audience at the bottom of the ramp, his brain kept his actions to a minimum even if his body had other ideas. 

"How many points do I get for that?" he whispered against her mouth, and smiled along with her.

"Don't worry, Cowboy," she assured him. "I'm giving you unlimited ammo." She hooked his trigger finger with hers and tugged him out of the room.

…..

-end


End file.
